US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has told a senate panel that a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling will stay in place until safety is assured. (Article: "Gulf spill: Salazar reassures over oil drilling pause." By the BBC).
Government and BP officials are under increasing pressure to stop the spill from local fishermen and officials to congressmen and environmental advocacy groups.
"I am still disgusted with the lack of leadership and no one stepping up to take charge and say, 'We're not going to let the oil hit the beaches,'" said Tony Kennon, mayor of Orange Beach, Alabama, who on Saturday confronted a top BP official at a news conference. (Article: Feds give BP deadline on contingency plans for oil collection. By the CNN Wire Staff).
President Obama: Even if we are successful in containing some or much of this oil, we are not going to get this problem completely solved until we actually have the relief well completed, and that is going to take a couple more months. We also know that there’s already a lot of oil that’s been released, and that there is going to be more oil released no matter how successful this containment effort is. And that’s why it’s so important for us to continue to put every asset that we have -- boom, skimmers, vessels; hiring local folks and local fishermen with their facilities, equipping them with skimmers; getting every asset that we have out there to make sure that we are minimizing the amount of oil that is actually coming to shore. (White House Press Release: Remarks by the President After Meeting with Cabinet Members to Discuss the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill).
WHAT IS BEING DONE...
US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has told a senate panel that a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling will stay in place until safety is assured. (Article: "Gulf spill: Salazar reassures over oil drilling pause." By the BBC).
Government and BP officials are under increasing pressure to stop the spill from local fishermen and officials to congressmen and environmental advocacy groups.
"I am still disgusted with the lack of leadership and no one stepping up to take charge and say, 'We're not going to let the oil hit the beaches,'" said Tony Kennon, mayor of Orange Beach, Alabama, who on Saturday confronted a top BP official at a news conference. (Article: Feds give BP deadline on contingency plans for oil collection. By the CNN Wire Staff).
President Obama: Even if we are successful in containing some or much of this oil, we are not going to get this problem completely solved until we actually have the relief well completed, and that is going to take a couple more months. We also know that there’s already a lot of oil that’s been released, and that there is going to be more oil released no matter how successful this containment effort is. And that’s why it’s so important for us to continue to put every asset that we have -- boom, skimmers, vessels; hiring local folks and local fishermen with their facilities, equipping them with skimmers; getting every asset that we have out there to make sure that we are minimizing the amount of oil that is actually coming to shore. (White House Press Release: Remarks by the President After Meeting with Cabinet Members to Discuss the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill).
ARTICLES
"Feds give BP deadline on contingency plans for oil collection", CNN"Gulf spill: Salazar reassures over oil drilling pause", BBC
"Council Deals With Oil Spill's Effects", Lafourche Gazette
EPA Responses, US government
Remarks by the President After Meeting with Cabinet Members to Discuss the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, US Press Secretary